The End Of Two Eras

Assassin's Creed Revelations begins with Desmond stuck in a coma, which means he is also stuck in limbo via the Animus. To wake up from the coma, he has to find a synch nexus, which is a memory that links both Altaïr and Ezio to himself. Desmond is not alone on Animus Island, however. Subject 16 is also there.

After Rome, Ezio makes the long travel to Masyaf in order to open the library of Altaïr. He can see Altaïr when using Eagle Vision. Ezio finds the Templars attempting to break into Altaïr's library. There are five keys to open the door. The keys are in Constantinople, so off Ezio goes.

With each Masyaf Key collected, a flashback of Altaïr is shown. Each flashback represents an important period of time in Altaïr's life. This was an excellent way to wrap up not only Altaïr's storyline, but Ezio's as well. I personally wouldn't want to play three entire games as Altaïr unless he went somewhere new. Masyaf is quite boring to me, with the exclusion of the castle. As I said in my Assassin's Creed review, I'm just not a fan of that time period and setting. I am a fan of Altaïr, though. A sequel to the original Assassin's Creed with Altaïr could've been great if he traveled somewhere new like Ezio does in every game of his trilogy. However, Revelations makes that unnecessary. Players get to see the best of the best of Altaïr. Both he and Ezio had a great story to tell, and I thoroughly enjoyed the way their stories were interweaved.

At the end of the game, Animus Island is scheduled to be deleted. Subject 16 saves Desmond's life by allowing him to get away through a portal before everything is destroyed on the island. Ezio once again travels to Masyaf to open Altaïr's library. He finds a room with several bookshelves, but no books. Altaïr rests in the middle of the room, his final moments spent here. "No books...no wisdom...just you, my brother." Ezio notices that in Altaïr's hands is a sixth Masyaf key and realizes that this room is not a library, but a vault that was designed to keep the Apple hidden from eager hands. Altaïr's sixth key sealed himself inside the vault to forever protect it. Ezio finds where the Apple is hidden within the vault, but decides that it should stay that way, stating, "I have seen enough for one life."

Revelations then ends with it's usual WTF moment. After Ezio decides to leave the Apple hidden, he calls out to Desmond. Ezio tells Desmond that he knows he is listening. He tells Desmond that he is a merely a conduit for a message that he doesn't fully understand, and that he hopes Desmond can be the one to make sense out of all of this. "Maybe you will answer all of the questions I have asked. Maybe you will be the one to make all this suffering worth something in the end."

This "calling out" by Ezio to Desmond completes the synch nexus and begins to wake him from his coma. He is approached by another member of the First Civilization named Jupiter. Jupiter tells Desmond that both before the end and after, their civilization built several underground vaults to protect the world from destuction, with each vault being dedicated to a different method of salvation. Each of their tests became more successful than the last, but proved ineffective. A detailed cutscene of a solar flare destroying the majority of the world is shown. There was nothing the First Civilization could do to stop it. Jupiter warns Desmond of a second solar flare, and directs him to the location of the central vault where all the data was tested. It appears to be on the East Coast. A cutscene is shown of green farmlands and windmills. Pennsylvania? Upstate New York, perhaps? Desmond wakes from his coma, his father William, Rebecca, and Shaun are standing over him. He takes one look at the Apple glowing brightly to his right, and says "I know what we have to do." The doors of the van open up to show that the central underground vault has activated.

How many years have passed between Brotherhood and Revelations? Ezio has aged and has gray in his beard. He's like Old Snake; he still has the skills, but is affected by age. Thankfully, the new hidden hookblade will help Old Ezio climb faster than he ever has before. Now he can zipline too!

Assassin's Creed Revelations takes place in Masyaf, Constantinople, and the underground city of Cappadocia. Constantinople is a gorgeous bright glowing city. The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and palm trees are blowing in the breeze. Historic landmarks such as the Haggia Sophia and the Hippodrome are all there. Of course, the Hippodrome looks much different now than it did back then, but the Obelisks are still standing tall. Obviously Ubisoft has done their homework yet again.

I've noticed that the graphics look great, but seem less refined and polished than in Assassin's Creed II & Brotherhood. That could just be me. I found the story to be the most important aspect of Revelations. I also found Revelations to be the shortest Assassin's Creed game I've played yet. A majority of missions were frustrating and I didn't care for them, but a lot of them were different and action-packed. The big reveal with Altaïr and Ezio was what I was waiting for. It was worth playing through the game for those moments alone. It makes me sad that their stories are now complete. Now I have to get used to three new assassins.

I am not a fan of tower defense genre at all, so I really disliked the den defense missions. Thank God they are optional, as I find that it detracts from the gameplay experience I'm used to and expecting. Why does every game series feel like it has to reinvent itself with a completely new type of gameplay? Rachet & Clank did the same thing with Full-Frontal Assault. It's just not necessary. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Bomb Crafting is the main addition to weaponry. Being able to make different bombs is cool, but I haven't found myself using them very often. I still prefer using the crossbow, hidden pistol, counter-attacking and chaining, and calling my Assassin recruits for help.

Ezio can collect Animus data fragments which help crack broken memories of Desmond's past. These broken memories are accessed via portals which lead to Desmond's Journey. Desmond's Journey is a 5-part first-person platforming section where you use different shaped objects to help you navigate through the memories. I had freezing issues with Desmond's Journey. Part 1 and 3 froze with a black screen upon entry. If persistent freezing occurs, I may have to skip some these. I got through parts 1, 2, 4, and 5 of Desmond's Journey. I get it; you're supposed to collect the Animus data fragments to rebuild the memory, but it's glitched. It's like a bad joke from the developers. It's supposed to look bad like it's not going to work. Problem is, the majority of the time they actually don't work. I figured Ubisoft would've easily patched an issue like this, but it remains unfixed as I play it now. This is the first problem I've run into playing through the Assassin's Creed series. Everything has been solid with no freezes until Revelations. I played these only to learn more about Desmond's past. I love first-person shooters, but I was not fond of this part of the game.

Borgia Towers from Brotherhood are replaced in Revelations by Templar Dens, though the premise remains the same. Kill the captain, ignite the tower, rebuild the city. Much like Rome in Brotherhood, Constantinople can be rebuilt from the Templar order. However, now whenever anything is rebuilt, your Templar Awareness increases by 25%. If it increases too high, the Templars will attack your Assassin Den. The only way to lower your Templar Awareness is by bribing heralds and assassinating officials (if you can find any). No wanted posters in this game. I find this new Templar Awareness to be frustrating.

I see the annoying beggars from the original Assassin's Creed have returned. They also tend to show up and block the way just in time when I need to get away and escape an area.

It's nice to be able to play as Altaïr once again, even though I didn't enjoy the first game very much. I'm glad they gave his voice an accent this time. Now he sounds like he belongs. Controls and gameplay are way more refined than in the first game, so Altaïr plays well this time around.

Online multiplayer is a blast like in Brotherhood. I bought Revelations used, so it came without the online pass. I just used the free three-day trial so I could play for a few days. I was able to play Revelations online with no issues. There were plenty of people still playing it. My copy of Assassin's Creed III is brand new, so I'll be able to spend as much time as I want playing that online. I hope the online is the same.

The Lost Archive DLC focuses on the story of Subject 16, also known as Clay Kaczmarek, as well as Lucy Stillman. Normally the price is $9.99, but the PlayStation Store had a 50% off sale on Assassin's Creed games and DLC. The Lost Archive is worth the $5. I wasn't a big fan of the Desmond's Journey sections in the main game, but I enjoyed the levels more in The Lost Archive. Maybe it's just because they worked without any issues. I liked the soundtrack a lot, especially the piano featured tracks. The Lost Archive revealed that Lucy was a double agent, or perhaps event a triple agent. She was working for both the Templars and the Assassins. Is that why Juno said she was not like the others? That she is not who Desmond thinks she is? Did Juno know Lucy would eventually betray Desmond and the assassins? It's clear she was secretly loyal to both sides at the same time, but it's unclear which side she really stood for. I was sad when she died, but now I'm only sad about it if her intentions were good.

I didn't earn nearly as many trophies on Revelations as I did with Brotherhood. In fact, I'm still attempting to earn some.

The conclusion of Ezio and Altaïr's story has finally come. I've grown quite attached to these characters over the last few games, especially Ezio. The original Assassin's Creed does get a bad rap, but Altaïr is more of an important character than people give him credit for. Revelations proved that to me. Altaïr knew that the right thing to do with the Apple was to keep it forever hidden. He knew it was too much power for anyone to have. But perhaps....perhaps someone would come along and finally use that power for the good of mankind. Ezio felt the same way, so I hoped that Desmond would be the one to collect it from Masyaf. Unfortunately, after doing some backtracking and further research, Altaïr's Apple was eventually found by Elizabeth I and later Ghandi. The Templars caught on to Ghandi and had him killed, taking possession of the Apple. They used this Apple in combination with another to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. The Apple was broken soon after. However, there are more Apples out there. Now it's Aveline, Connor, and Edward's turn to find them for Desmond. Assassin's Creed Liberation HD is next!

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